How will the new NDP leader connect?

Three things are certain when it comes to digital at this weekend’s NDP leadership convention:

1. The NDP will have a new leader March 24 whether social media plays a role, or not. While social media is likely to be prominent in the narrative, it’s unlikely to influence the outcome.

2. There will be a lot of online chatter from delegates, NDP members across the county and politically enthusiastic Canadians.

3. I’ll be watching that online chatter, reporting on it and seeking answers from candidates and delegates to the following question: What role should digital play in the future of the party and in this evolving era of Canadian politics?

I’ve been researching the role of social media in Canadian politics and public affairs for more than two years. Thankfully, I’ve been indulged with municipal, provincial and federal elections, a provincial and a national party convention, two provincial leadership and now one federal leadership campaign. In each, social media played a role in campaign outreach and as a gathering place for political conversation — like a massive cocktail party in an aircraft hangar.
Using tools including Sysomos, I’ve collected and analyzed volumes of data. I’ve identified usage patterns, trends and outcomes, and mapped online traffic on political issues and scandals — Bill-C30 and election robocalls have added some spice to the chatter.
Despite the number of opportunities Canadian politicians have been presented during the last two years, social media in politics is still in its infancy. Perhaps that’s why it’s so prominently featured in much of the political reporting. For strategists like me, it’s an exciting time because digital is so new in this realm, and everything is changing rapidly. What hasn’t changed, though, is the nature of social media.
Social media is fundamentally about technology-enabled, community-building conversation. It’s a newish world well-suited to politics since much of politics is ideas, communities of interest and groundswells of support. The people who have benefited the most are those who have figured out how to adapt their social media use from simply staying in touch with their inner-circle of family and friends to building new and meaningful connections through online interactions.
ComScore, an internet marketing research firm, released the Canada Digital Future in Focus 2012 report at the beginning of this month. Though it may come as a surprise, the report shows Canadians lead the world in online engagement. For political teams there is a wealth of important information in the report.
For instance, Canadians spend an average of 45.6 hours per month on line (5.3 more hours per month than our American friends). We consume more online content. Our use of social media is on the rise across all age groups; anywhere from 14 per cent (ages 45-54) to 67 per cent (ages 18-24). We’re heavy Facebook users, and our participation in Twitter grew 60 per cent in 2011. On YouTube, Canadian views of news/information videos which grew 185 per cent are second only to our love of entertainment videos. Smartphones have reached 45 per cent of the mobile telephone market with noticeable growth in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. Reading news/information and participating in social networks are the two dominant mobile phone activities for Canadians; both increased at least 40 per cent since 2010.
Armed with this information, politicians and their teams should be personally and financially invested in social media. Digital should be baked into all communication strategies rather than tacked on after the fact. Politicians should be using a variety of tools to engage Canadians and hopefully get them out to the polls — perhaps even become active members of a political party.
Why does this matter as we head into the NDP Leadership Convention?
With few exceptions, the seven NDP leadership candidates have been weak in immersing themselves in digital culture. Veterans and newcomers alike use the requisite tools of social media almost exclusively as additional channels over which to broadcast their messages. They’re practicing (sometimes schmaltzy) politics-as-usual in an ecosystem that expects something disruptive — something worth getting excited about or investing energy (no footage found). While we often hear candidates talk about engaging with Canadians, there’s been little to suggest they understand how.
On one hand, this is surprising coming from the NDP. The party’s focus has been on changing politics. Social media figured into their federal election strategy. They witnessed the power of social media outposts as gathering places to support Jack Layton when he was diagnosed with cancer and to grieve his untimely death last August. They’ve also seen how social media participants are influencing discussions in Parliament. It’s that freshness of everything digital that results in news stories becoming online conversations and online conversations becoming news stories.
On the other hand , who can blame them? The Conservative Party has proven elections can be won with almost no online communication at all and online crises can be ridden out.
The Conservative approach is not likely to be effective for much longer. Anyone who expects to be well-positioned to meet Canadians where they gather online needs to grow with the tools. Waiting until social media become cemented into our political system will be too late.